Foreign Finds

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Yesterday was a weird day for coin roll hunting. At the bank I got my normal Monday boxes and picked up some hand rolled coins a teller saved for me. Immediately after I left the bank I noticed that the two boxes of dimes I got were all brand new 2007P dimes. I asked if I could exchange them, but it couldn't be done.

When I got home I first went through the hand rolled coins. In the box was 280 quarters, 200 dimes, 120 nickels and 350 pennies. In all of the rolls there were no keepers. I was shocked no Wheats or Canadians showed up. Oh well.

I next went through the two boxes of quarters. In the boxes I found one silver quarter (1963) and two Canadians. The silver quarter was one I needed. I also found one roll with 43 quarters in it. A free 75 cents! (I'd take a nice scan of the quarter, but so much is still packed at the house.)

I also managed to go through one box of pennies. In the box I located nine Wheats and nineteen Canadians. One of the Canadians was a variety I needed, 2003P Crown.

I'll probably get through the rest of the boxes tonight.

Today was also the first of carpooling with a co-worker of mine. I figure every day we can carpool we can save 50 cents in tolls, 35 miles on our cars, a gallon or so of gas, a bit of sanity and reduce our emissions.

Monday, July 30, 2007

The past few days have sure been busy. My wife and I moved to our new house. We love it. If any of our family is reading this and helped us out, thank you! We couldn't have done it without all of your help.

Despite the move I managed to do a bit of coin roll hunting. The obsession continued. I worked through two batches of hand rolled coins and a few boxes of coins. Before I got the coins to search I dumped a big load of them at my favorite dump spot. In the reject bin of the Coin Star machine I found one penny, one nickel, six dimes (one was a 1963!), two quarters and some Canadian. Not bad!

In total I searched 1,360 quarters. I found nine Canadians. My no silver quarters streak continued, but in the Canadians were two I needed, a 2006 RCM and a 1973 Small Bust.

In 6,000 dimes three silver Rosies (1948S, 2 x 1964) and twenty-two Canadians were found. In those were two varieties I needed, the 1948S and a 2007 RCM Canadian.

The nickels were even better. I looked through 4,440 of them and found one dateless Buffalo, two War Time nickels (1944D, 1945P), thirty-eight Canadians, one Bermuda nickel, and one Bahama nickel. Two of the Canadians were ones I needed, a 2006 RCM and a 2007 RCM.

The pennies weren't so good. I only searched 1,350 of them. I found only two Wheats, but I did find thirty-nine Canadians. In the Canadians were two keepers, 2005P and 2007 RCM.

Last night I replaced all of the energy wasting old style bulbs inside our new house with CFLs, except for a few special size bulbs I need to locate, and discovered that our closest grocery store discounts the bill by 3 cents for every cloth bag one uses.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Well, today while waiting to close on our house my wife was patient with me and let me dump coins at one bank and search three. Some of the tellers were friendly today, others not so much.

While dumping at the first bank I peeked over the counter and saw some silver halves in the tray. I bought all of her halves, 25 of them. At the next bank I also saw some halves and bought seven more. In the thirty-two I found 11 40% silver ones (2 x 1966, 4 x 1967, 5 x 1968D). The second teller even said, "there's some strange ones in there, some silver ones." I was hoping for some non-Kennedy halves, but oh well. At the same bank another teller heard what I was up to and volunteered that they had 340 in the vault. I took those two. I found six more 40% silver halves in them (5 x 1967, 1969D).

I also scrounged up 520 quarters. I didn't find anything of note in them except one US dime. In 550 dimes I found one silver dime (1959D) and one Canadian. Then in 200 nickels I found two Canadians.

I also got a hold of a whole bunch of pennies, 2550. In them I found 14 Wheats, 23 Canadians and 1 US dime. No new varieties though.

Last night I worked through just a few hand rolled rolls. I find searching calms me and I've been a bit nervous about my house closing today.

In 1,000 quarters I found one Canadian. It wasn't a variety I needed.

Things were better with the dimes. In 2,400 of those I found three silver Rosies (1946, 1953D, 1959), thirteen Canadians and a US penny. One of the US dimes was a variety I needed and another was an upgrade. I am still looking for just one post 1970 Canadian dime, 1996. The mintage was low that year.

The pennies went OK as well. In 2,500 sixteen Wheats, twenty-two Canadians and one US dime turned up. One of the Wheats was a good one that I was looking for, 1920D.

Today if I have time, I'll exchange the hand rolled stuff I have for more.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Today I was a bit dumb. I picked up a bunch of hand rolled quarters, nickels and dimes at a local bank only to realize when driving away most of them were probably the same ones I dropped off two weeks ago. (This problem doesn't exist with boxes, that's one plus of them.) I was able to sort out which ones were mine though as it was obvious which wrappers had been reused.

In two rolls of quarters I found one Canadian I needed, a 2004 Acadie. And then in 720 nickels I found a nice 1945P War Time. The War Time nickel represents the last extra one I needed to finish a roll. It seems to be worth about $20 on EBay. At some point I'll sell it and some other rolls putting them towards some Dansco coin albums.

Last night I had a very slow night in the coin roll hunting hobby. Some weird stuff showed up, but no new varieties.

I went through two boxes and two hand rolled rolls of quarters to start things off (My pattern is go from highest denomination to lowest.). I found no silver quarters, two Canadians, a quarter crown coin from Turks and Caicos (It's a Caribbean Island - I never heard of it before.), and one slug. I saw the slug even before I opened the box. I showed the teller at the bank, too. The two boxes of dimes I got stunk. No silver dimes and seven Canadians.

My luck changed this morning, however. In two boxes and nine hand rolled rolls of nickels I found one War Time (1945S) and sixteen Canadians. The two boxes and four hand rolled rolls of pennies were much better. I found thirty-six wheats and thirty-seven Canadians. The wheats included five varieties I needed (1915, 1925D, 1930S, 1932, 1948S)! Of those only one, the 1925D, doesn't suffer a bit from corrosion. I'm going to buy a potato or two at lunch to try my had at removing the green on them. I'll practice first with some other wheats that look like they came from the same source.

Monday, July 23, 2007

On Friday I decided to continue my hand rolled coin experiment and got a bunch of hand rolled coins to search inbetween my packing. (All of it came in cool cloth bags.)

I first went through the quarters. In 2,000 quarters I found one silver quarter (1964D), one Canadian (I thought there'd be more of these.), and one Korean 100 Won coin (worth 11 cents). I'm feeling good anytime I find a silver quarter so that was a good start.

I went through the dimes that same evening. In 4,000 of them I found two silver dimes (1952, 1960) and five Canadians. One of the silver dimes was one I needed. I'm now down to fifteen varieties!

The next day I worked my way through the nickels. In 6,000 of them I found one Liberty nickel (1907), one Buffalo (1926), one War Time (1945P), twenty Canadians, one US dime, one US penny, and a Paraguay 50 Guaranies coin (worth 1 cent). The Liberty nickel is the first one I've found and is the oldest nickel I've found to date!

I eventually finished the pennies. In the 5,000 pennies I found twenty-three wheats, forty-six Canadians, one Bermuda 1 cent, one Bahamas 1 cent, one US dime and one UK penny. No new varieties were in the mix.

Also, I heard this good story on NPR this morning about plastics. It seems there is a huge demand for recycled plastics these days and the demand isn't being met.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Last night and this morning were a bit strange. I went through ten boxes of coins and only came up with one US variety I needed.

I first went through four boxes of dimes. In them I only found one silver Rosie (1962D). That's easily my worst turnout. In the boxes, however, I found eleven Canadians, one UK 5 pence, and one Belgium 1 franc (a first). One of the Canadians, 1972, was a variety I needed.

After that I went through two boxes of quarters. I thought perhaps the low silver dime results meant I was going to find a silver quarter. No luck. I did find three Canadians, all of which I needed (1994, 2001P, 2005 Veterans). The Veterans commemrative is pretty cool.

Things turned around a bit with the two boxes of nickels. In them there were three War Time nickels (1943P, 1944P, 1945P), one awesome Buffalo (1937), and twenty-six Canadians. In one roll there were two War Time nickels and one Buffalo! The 1937 is very close in quality to the 1936 I found on Monday.

This morning the bad luck continued with the two boxes of pennies. I only found twenty wheats in them (a low, I think), thirty Canadians, and one Bermuda cent. None were varieties I needed.

I think I might try a big mess of hand rolled coins next.

Found: 4 pennies (2 at work on top of a vending machine, 2 at the Mobil Mart)

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Today at the bank my teller friend gave me seven hand rolled coin rolls, four of pennies and three of quarters.

Just before lunch I quickly checked them out. In the three rolls of quarters there were no silver quarters and no Canadians, ... but in one of the quarter rolls was a silver dime (1956). It is hard for me to believe. Plus it is a variety I need.

The four rolls of pennies had four wheats and one Canadian. No new varieties or upgrades, though.

I also discovered at the bank while cashing in my waste coins that I missed a slug in some quarter rolls I had recently searched. I'll take a picture of it and the silver dime tonight as my scanner is working again. :)

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Last night and this morning I went through eight boxes of coins, my usual Monday allotment.

I first went through two boxes of quarters. I didn't find any silver quarters, but I did find seven Canadians. I needed two of the Canadian varieties I found, 1971 and 2000 Achievement.

I next searched two boxes of dimes. In them I only found one silver Rosie (1962D) and one Canadian. The silver dime was an upgrade, but that was it.

Determined that my luck would turn around I set my sights on two boxes of nickels. Things went much better. I didn't find any new varieties, US or Canadian, but I got a good mix of stuff. It's the strange and rare that keeps me going. In the boxes were three War Time nickels (1943P x 2, 1945P), one awesome looking Buffalo (1936), 11 Canadians, two Swiss 20 Rappen, one 20 Singapore cent piece, one 25 Phillipino sentimos piece (worth 1/2 cent), and one United Arab Emirates 50 fil piece (worth 13 cents). The 1936 Buffalo is the best looking Buffalo nickel I have seen in person. It almost looks brand new, like the pieces in my nickel book.

This morning I went through two boxes of pennies. I was hopeful. In the two boxes were thirty Wheats, 33 Canadians, and one Bermuda penny. There were no new US varieties in the mix for me, but I did find a Canadian variety, a 1947 Maple Leaf.

While roll hunting this morning I heard a good piece on WBUR about a woman waging a campaign against plastic shopping bags. There is even a law coming up the Massachusetts state legislature to ban them!

Found: 8 pennies (4 in Newton, 1 in Bertucci's, 1 at Shaw's, 1 at work, 1 at the Mobil Mart)

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Last night and this morning I went through my late week allotment of coins.

I first went through two boxes of quarters. In the boxes I found my first Idaho 2007P quarter. Otherwise they were both skunks, no Canadians or silver ones.

I then went through four boxes of dimes. In the boxes I found six silver Rosies (1958D, 1964, 1954S, 1962, 1953S, 1959). Three of those were varieties I needed, 17 more to go. I also found a Canadian variety I needed, a 2001P Bluenose.

(I tried to scan the dimes, but my scanner isn't working. I haven't given up on it completely, though.)

This morning I finished two boxes of nickels. In them I found one War Time nickel (1945S), ten Canadians, and one Bermuda 5 cent piece. One of the Canadians was one I was looking for (1991).

I also rushed through two boxes of pennies. The second box was full of Canadians. It had 98 of them in it. In all I found 34 wheats and 114 Canadians. I found two wheat varieties I was seeking (1929S, 1942S) and one Canadian I didn't have yet (1951).

After that was all done I attempted to dump most it at my favorite dump bank. Unfortunately, their Coin Star machine was full. (It wasn't me this time!) I went north to the third closest Sovereign with a free Coin Star as the second closest machine was full as well. I got a bit lost and then had a hell of a time with the machine. The thing was accepting as many coins as it was rejecting until the teller fixed it, it jammed once, and I let a few people cut in line. I only got through half of my coins before I lost my patience.

It paid off though and my gas was mostly paid for as the teller gave me all of the rejects. The machine at that bank is older (or different) than the one at my main bank. It's less robust - which sucked, but it has an internal magnet that collects foreign coins. The teller gave them to me. In the mess was one key, one makeup container, two nails, two religious medals, five Canadian nickels, sixteen Canadian dimes, nine Canadian quarters, six Canadian cents, one 5 cent Ecuador piece, three 5 cent Euro pieces, two 2 cent Euro pieces, one 1 cent Euro piece, one peso, one 25 cent Aruba piece, one 10 cent Mexican piece, one UK penny, one 50 cent Hong Kong piece, one 10 cent Dominican Republic piece, and one US 1943S steel penny.

I am still excited that I found a 1943S steel penny! Now I only need the 1943D. In the Canadian coins I found four varieties I needed, three quarters (April 1999, 1989, 1969) and one dime (1968 V-Shaped Grooves). Plus, $4.16 Canadian is as good as US when I put it in paper rolls.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Yesterday at the bank a teller friend of mine gave me $440 in coins she took in from an older gentleman. She thought I'd have good luck with them.

I went through the quarters first. There were 1,040 of them. In the batch I only found one Canadian. I went through 400 nickels and found only one Canadian as well. The rolls also had two dimes and five pennies in them. The dimes, 1,050, looked equally disappointing, but in the second to last row my luck changed. I found a nice 1937 Mercury dime. My oldest dime to date! (I also found a penny in the dime rolls.)

My luck continued with the 3,500 pennies ... big time. It was a wheat penny bonanza! I found 128 wheats, 28 Canadians, one nickel, six dimes, one Barbados 1 cent, and one German 2 Pfennig. In the bunch I found three varieties I didn't have (1927, 1931, 1948D) and a few upgrades. Here's the variety breakdown.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Last night was a light night. I only went through 3 boxes of coins.

I first went through a box of dimes and found two silver Rosies (2 x 1964) and two Canadians. Next I went through a box of nickels. In the box I found one War Time nickel (1945S) and eleven Canadians. One of the Canadians was one I needed (2003P). Surprisingly the 1945S wasn't an upgrade - my existing specimen is pretty bad. It gave me hope though that I can find the two War Time nickels I need up here in the northeast.

Lastly, I went through a box a pennies. In the box I found another very large number of 1950's wheats all toned the same. No S's though. I also found eighteen Canadians.

On Sunday I compiled some more statistics.

Most 40% silver halves found in one box - 23Most 90% silver halves found in one box - 5Most Proof halves found in one box - 2Most loose or hand rolled halves found at one bank - 180Most loose large dollar coins found at one bank - 26

Found: 23 pennies (4 at the Old Navy, 1 at the GAP, 2 at the Arsenal Mall, 1 at Shaw's), 2 dimes (1 at Shaw's)

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Yesterday while in Edgartown I managed to find four more halves. No keepers, oh well.

Today my luck changed. I guess it's the three sevens thing (07/07/07). Today I went through my usual Monday night coin boxes (I'm going to be pretty busy this week, so I shifted my schedule slightly.).

In two boxes of dimes I found just two silver Rosies (1950D, 1963). They were both varieties I needed. So no complaints here. 20 silver Rosie varieties to go. Where have all the Canadian dimes gone? I found none in these two boxes.

After the the dimes I went through two boxes of quarters. While listening to a NPR story about a woman who won a million dollars twice I found two silver quarters in one box (1957D, 1964D)! That's a record! (See below.)

I then went through two boxes of nickels and found two War Time nickels (1943P, 1945P), one dateless Buffalo, and 14 Canadians. I did not find any of the three varieties I still need.

Lastly, I went through two boxes of pennies. In them I found a ton of wheats, one box had an unusually large number of 1950's wheats all toned the exact same. In the boxes I found one variety I needed, however, a worn 1924 specimen.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Well, as you might of guessed, I'm away. I'm on Martha's Vineyard with my wife and my in-laws. While here I decided to hit all of the banks on the island over two mornings. There are sixteen banks. At them I found 322 half dollars and no large dollars. I found four keepers, 2 silver ones (1964, 1968D) and 2 proofs (1989S, 1999S). I'm keeping my eye out for loose change as well.